IPS,Feb 4.
COLOMBO, Feb 3 (IPS) - Sri Lanka is rejecting claims that some 11,000 people who surrendered as suspected Tamil rebels just before the rebels were defeated in May 2009 are being held incommunicado or risk being tortured.

”These allegations are untrue. The surrendered persons have access to relatives and family and we are working with UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in their rehabilitation and reintegration programme,” said Major General Daya Ratnayake, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, which is in charge of all rebel suspects undergoing rehabilitation.

On Tuesday, the U.S.-based rights campaigner, Human Rights Watch (HRW), urged the Sri Lankan government to end the alleged indefinite, arbitrary detention of more than 11,000 people held in ”so-called ‘rehabilitation centres'” and release those who are not being prosecuted.
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ifex,feb 4.
Arrests and intimidation of Sri Lankan journalists continue in a post-election crackdown, especially on critics who sided with the opposition, report the Free Media Movement (FMM) and other IFEX members. Authorities have detained and questioned many journalists, blocked websites and expelled a foreign journalist, fostering a climate of fear.

Security agents surrounded the Colombo offices of Lanka eNews, a site critical of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on 28 January - a day after he won almost 58 per cent of the vote - report IFEX members. Authorities padlocked the gates to the office, locking the staff in, reports the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
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Dayananda Dissanayake said that he stood by the results, which gave Rajapakse 58 percent of the ballot, trouncing opposition-backed former general Sarath Fonseka, who got 40 percent.

"I am not satisfied with what has happened in the campaign period," Dissanayake told reporters. "But I stand by the voting process and the results."
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Published: Wed Feb 3 09:09:21 EST 2010

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